ALS + Ogden temple open house + other stuff

I made the grossest dinner in the world tonight. 

Well, I mean, it probably wasn't the very grossest. But it was inedible in its original form. I took one bite and promptly dumped half of it in the trash, telling myself that those ingredients were cheap and that I wouldn't miss them. Note to self: Next time you accidentally quadruple the dijon mustard, start over.


In other news, I got tagged for the ALS ice bucket challenge and I think I'm gonna skip it. As I understand it (correct me if I'm wrong here), I can either donate $100 to the ALS foundation to help fund research, or I can dump a bucket of cold water on my head to raise awareness. I can't donate $100 if I want to buy groceries in the month of September, and I feel like awareness is rather raised without my help because this challenge has gone viral. I'm thinking of a compromise wherein I donate less and call it good? 

And I'm also thinking of skipping it. I dunno, maybe I'm just a jerk. That's probably it. Guilted donations don't feel very charitable to me, though. Cuz I'm a jerk?


In other other news, I have no clue what classes I'll be taking this semester, and school starts next Tuesday. Intro to Women's Studies or Marriage Enhancement? Intro to Folklore or Literacy for Disciplines? World Religions or Web Publishing? The only thing that is certain is that I'll be taking Math Ed Practicum because it is the only credit of any in this paragraph which I actually need to be able to graduate. I guess I could take a 4 credit semester...but I'd never forgive myself.


In other other other news (this is getting out of hand), I got sucked into a common homeschooling hashtag on Instagram the other day and opted to follow some of its more popular users. Because the more I get involved with the public school system through my major, the more I want to keep my kids out of it. Yikes...


And now since everything I've written here has been a little cynical and grouchy (one of Alyssa's top 10 reasons to not blog late at night), I'm going to wrap up with something much more uplifting. We visited the Ogden temple today! I had my doubts as to whether this building actually existed in real life because it is so perfect that every picture I have seen thus far looked animated. Even the ones I took while we were there made it look too perfect to exist on this planet. I have no words.

And also, we went in the little display tent at the end and had this gem taken by the sister missionaries and a projector:

See? That one definitely looks animated. But it's not. It's just a picture within the picture. Maybe I'm the only one who sees this animation thing happening...

In any case, we loved our visit to the temple this morning. The doctrines and covenants that we study and learn about inside the temple are some of my favorite ones in the church. Families can be together forever! Our Heavenly Father has a plan for His children! We can return to live with him again through covenant-making and -keeping! What a blessing it is to have this knowledge. My life would not be as happy nor as hopeful without it. I love temples. If you have any chance to walk through this temple while it is open to the public, go! Go now! Go and see what it's all about!


This is a weird post. Oh well.


Now I feel hypocritical for being non-charitable with the ALS thing and then preaching about temples (where we learn about charity) in the same post. I'mma go donate something. You win, conscience.